The best time to visit Four Corners Monument
The numbers, and whose numbers they are
There is no weather station at Four Corners Monument. What follows is NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 monthly normals for Farmington Regional Airport (station USW00023090), which sits 55 miles east-southeast at 5,495 feet. The monument is roughly 635 feet lower, so expect it a few degrees warmer than these. I would not present them as measurements taken at the marker, because they are not.
| Farmington normals | Jan | Apr | Jul | Oct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average high °F | 43.0 | 67.4 | 93.3 | 68.8 |
| Average low °F | 19.2 | 35.3 | 60.9 | 37.8 |
| Precipitation, in | 0.72 | 0.56 | 0.63 | 0.79 |
April and October are the two columns that matter. Highs in the high sixties, nights cold enough for a jacket, and none of the extremes that make the other two months a test of character.
Summer: hot, exposed, and busiest
A July average high of 93.3°F at a station 635 feet above the monument means the plaza is plausibly warmer than that. It is a flat expanse of granite and concrete at about 4,861 feet with the sky uninterrupted in every direction, and no source I can find describes shade at the site, and I have never found any. Bring water. The 2026 restroom project preserved the site’s water and septic infrastructure, so there is plumbing, but nobody states anywhere whether there is drinking water for visitors, so I would not drive out assuming it.
Summer is also when the gate stays open longest — 8:00pm from 23 May to 14 August. That sounds like an invitation to visit late, and it half is: the light in the last hour is the best of the day and the plaza empties out. The catch is that the vendors and the office close at 5:00pm regardless, so an evening visit gets you the marker and no market.
The monsoon, and why June is not what people expect
The National Weather Service puts the Southwest monsoon season at 15 June to 30 September. The Farmington normals bear it out and add something more useful: June is the driest month of the entire year at 0.20 inches, then rainfall roughly triples from July through September and peaks in September at 1.06 inches.
So the season boundary and the rainfall boundary are two weeks apart. June is hot and bone dry. July, August and September bring afternoon thunderstorms, flash flooding and brief road closures, plus the mud in the parking areas that the Navajo Nation president’s office noted in 2023. None of that closes the park — no source documents a weather closure, and I am not going to invent one — but it does argue for planning your arrival in the morning during those three months rather than after lunch.
July through September, be at the gate in the morning. Storms here build in the afternoon, the roads out are US-160, US-163 and US-491, and a wet parking area at the end of a long drive is a bad way to finish. In June you can go whenever you like, and take twice as much water as you think you need.
Winter: cold, short, and quiet
January averages a high of 43.0°F and a low of 19.2°F at Farmington, with winter lows around 19 to 24°F. The gate keeps 8:00am to 5:00pm from 1 October to 27 March, so the day is short at both ends, and there is no discrepancy with Arizona time in winter because DST is over everywhere.
In exchange you get the shortest queue of the year and, some mornings, the whole plaza. I shoot out here in February more than any other month. Two warnings that are not weather: the fixed holiday closures fall in this stretch — New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, Navajo Nation Family Day and Christmas Day, plus all other Navajo Nation holidays — and vendor presence is thinnest in winter. Details on why it closes.
Why I pick the shoulder
Late September into early October, and April into May. The temperature is survivable on an unshaded plaza, the monsoon is finishing or has not started, the gate is still keeping longer hours than it will in December, and the light is lower and longer than anything a midday summer sun does to a pale slab of granite. That is the photographer talking rather than the climatologist, and I would rather say which one is speaking.
Whatever month you choose, the stop is 30 to 60 minutes, the fee is US$8 at the gate with no advance ticket in existence, and the hour you are most likely to lose is the one on the clock, not the calendar.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to visit Four Corners Monument?
Late September into early October, or April into May. You avoid both the low-to-mid 90s°F summer heat on an unshaded plaza and the short winter days that close the gate at 5:00pm, and you sit outside the worst of the monsoon rainfall. Those temperatures are NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals for Farmington Regional Airport, 55 miles away, since there is no station at the monument.
When is the monsoon season at Four Corners?
The National Weather Service season runs 15 June to 30 September, but the rainfall does not follow it evenly. In the 1991–2020 Farmington normals June is the driest month of the year at 0.20 inches, then rain roughly triples from July and peaks in September at 1.06 inches. Expect afternoon thunderstorms and brief road closures in July, August and September.